Tory leadership hopeful Rory Stewart apologised today after admitting once smoking the Class A drug opium as the race to replace Theresa May took a bizarre turn.

The International Development Secretary said he was wrong to accept a pipe that was being passed around at a wedding he attended in Iran while travelling 15 years ago.

He admitted smoking the narcotic – from which heroin is made – during an interview with the Daily Telegraph, saying it ‘had no effect’ on him ‘because I was walking 25-30 miles a day’.

He told the paper: ‘I was invited into the house, the opium pipe was passed around at a wedding. I thought – this is going be a very strange afternoon to walk – but it may be that the family was so poor they put very little opium in the pipe.’

It came after the 46-year-old continued to be the stand out candidate in the early running in the race to replace Theresa May.

Appearing on comedian Matt Forde’s Political Party podcast last night he said his new high profile was ‘strange’, adding: ‘I’m doing roughly what I think I’ve been doing for the past nine years and nobody paid any attention at all.’

Mr Stewart meeting locals in Wigan during his #RoryWalks tour of the United Kingdom

Barking in Barking: Mr Stewart wanted to escape the Westminster bubble to see what people on the street were concerned about

He posed for a selfie with ‘Alistair’, who followed him to barking after missing him at Borough Market in central London

He has also taken a host of ‘selfies’ – but admitted he faked holding the camera.

One of his first stops on the walking tour was Lewisham in south east London at the start of the week

One of his stops was in Kew Gardens and told his followers he was there for an hour ‘if anyone wants to talk’.

Some viewers joked that they would have loved to but asked him to pay the £18-plus entrance fee.

The DfiD minister was there to promote his department’s work with cocoa farmers around the world – around an hour after extolling the benefits of drinking camel’s milk on Good Morning Britain.

On an extraordinary day of campaigning he also denied claims from Tory rivals he was a ‘suicide bomber’ working to help Michael Gove beat Boris Johnson, saying he is a ‘serious candidate’ and was upset by the metaphor because he served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On a visit to the north west he also visited Wigan, the seat of Labour’s Lisa Nandy who is pro-Leave

He met a local Tory council candidate and activists in Warrington, Cheshire, yesterday

He also went to Barking in east London to meet locals and talk to them about the issues they face

The former prisons minister who once vowed to quit if they did not improve within a year declared his candidacy to replace Theresa May almost as soon as he was promoted to the Cabinet.